This invention relates generally to the art of portable utility racks, and more particularly, to such racks which are used to hold jars and the like as material is being taken therefrom by an operator, such as a hair dresser.
Numerous portable racks exist in the prior art for holding jars and the like from which an operator, or user, withdraws material to be applied to a subject. United States patents disclosing such racks include: No. 3,090,590 to Hester; 3,351,210 to Murcott; 3,467,259 to Silver; 3,476,261 to Hanson et al.; 3,602,371 to Weiner; Design Patent No. 9,718 to Cate; and Design Patent No. 208,469 to Parker. A primary purpose of such racks is to free operator's hands for working on the subject.
Some of the racks mentioned in the patents listed above are of molded plastic and have compartments formed in the tops thereof for receiving jars and the like, see Parker (Design Pat. No. 208,469); Cate (Design Pat. No. 9,718) and Murcott U.S. Pat. No. 3,351,210). A difficulty with the racks of these patents is that they do not provide proper structure for allowing material which dribbles down the sides of supported jars to fall out of, and/or be washed out of the compartments. Murcott U.S. Pat. No. (3,351,210) does include apertures in the centers of his compartments however material falling on the bottoms of these compartments does not necessarily flow out of these apertures since the bottoms are flat and this material might harden within the compartments before flowing out of the apertures. Thus, it is an object of this invention to provide a utility rack having compartments which include appropriate structure for allowing material dribbling down the sides of jars held by the compartments to easily and positively fall from the compartments.
Another difficulty with prior-art utility racks is that round jars held by the racks are generally free to rotate. Thus, it is difficult for an operator to screw off and on closure members thereof, especially with one hand. Thus, it is an object of this invention to provide a rack which immobilizes round jars to allow an operator to easily screw off and on closure members thereof with one hand.
It is further object of this invention to provide a utility rack for holding jars and the like which allows easy access to the jars.
It is also an object of this invention to provide a utility rack which is shaped to easily shed fluid material falling on the outer surface thereof.
It is yet another object of this invention to provide a utility rack which is inexpensive to manufacture has a relatively uncomplicated structure, is highly portable and is easy to clean.